2.3 Creativity and intelligence as coincident sets
Under this view，researchers posit that there are no differences in the mechanisms underlying creativity in those used in normal problem solving；and in normal problem solving，there is no need for creativity.Thus，creativity and Intelligence（problem solving）are the same.Perkins referred to this as the“nothing-special”view.
Weisberg ＆Alba examined problem solving by having participants complete the 9-dot problem—where the participants are asked to connect all 9dots in the 3 rows of 3 dots using 4 straight lines or less，without lifting their pen or tracing the same line twice.The problem can only be solved if the lines go outside the boundaries of the square of dots.Results demonstrated that even when participants were given this insight，they still found it difficult to solve the problem，thus showing that to successfully complete the task it is not just insight（or creativity）that is required.
The notion of something outside a perceived“box”is related to a traditional topographical puzzle called the nine dots puzzle.
The origins of the phrase“thinking outside the box”are obscure；but it was popularized in part because of a nine-dot puzzle，which John Adair claims to have introduced in 1969.Management consultant Mike Vance has claimed that the use of the nine-dot puzzle in consultancy circles stems from the corporate culture of the Walt Disney Company，where the puzzle was used in-house.
The nine dots puzzle is much older than the slogan.It appears in Sam Loyd's 1914 Cyclopedia of Puzzles.In the 1951 compilation The Puzzle-Mine：Puzzles Collected from the Works of the Late Henry Ernest Dudeney，the puzzle is attributed to Dudeney himself.Sam Loyd's original formulation of the puzzle entitled it as“Christopher Columbus's egg puzzle”.This was an allusion to the story of Egg of Columbus.
The puzzle proposed an intellectual challenge—to connect the dots by drawing four straight，continuous lines that pass through each of the nine dots，and never lifting the pencil from the paper.The conundrum is easily resolved，but only by drawing the lines outside the confines of the square area defined by the nine dots themselves.The phrase“thinking outside the box”is a restatement of the solution strategy.The puzzle only seems difficult because people commonly imagine a boundary around the edge of the dot array.The heart of the matter is the unspecified barrier that people typically perceive.
Ironically，telling people to“think outside the box”does not help them think outside the box，at least not with the 9-dot problem.This is due to the distinction between procedural knowledge（implicit or tacit knowledge）and declarative knowledge（book knowledge）.For example，a non-verbal cue such as drawing a square outside the 9 dots does allow people to solve the 9-dot problem better than average.
The nine-dot problem is a well-defined problem.It has a clearly stated goal，and all necessary information to solve the problem is included（connect all of the dots using four straight lines）.Furthermore，well-defined problems have a clear ending（you know when you have reached the solution）.Although the solution is“outside the box”and not easy to see at first，once it has been found，it seems obvious.Other examples of welldefined problems are the Tower of Hanoi and the Rubik's Cube.
In contrast，characteristics of ill-defined problems are：
（1）not clear what the question really is
（2）not clear how to arrive at a solution
（3）no idea what the solution looks like
An example of an ill-defined problem is“what is the essence of happiness？”The skills needed to solve this type of problem are the ability to reason and draw inferences，metacognition，and epistemic monitoring.